Born in Waco, Texas, Eddy Shaver was the only son of Billy Joe Shaver, a rought-and-tumble legendary songwriter whose work has been recorded by the likes of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

According to British newspaper The Independent, Eddy Shaver was just 12 when Betts taught him to play guitar.

“A lot of my playing comes form watching Dickey Betts play,” Shaver once told the newspaper. “He taught me that every note had to have a presence to it.”

At just 13, the younger Shaver went on the road with his dad, largely to tune his father’s guitars, Billy Joe Shaver later said. But Eddy Shaver was off and running.

He formed the Delta Rebels rock band in Memphis, and later joined country star Dwight Yoakam’s band as lead guitarist, and gig that lasted until 1989.

He then teamed with his father, forming the band Shaver — in essence the two Shavers with a host of guest musicians. By then Eddy Shaver had developed a hard-driving guitar style that added a hard edge to his father’s music. They released their first album, Tramp On Your Street, in 1993.

The duo recorded several other albums over the years that followed, including 1999’s Honky Tonk Heroes, featuring Kris Kristoferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. For his part Eddy Shaver had established himself as a premier guitar player, and prepared to release a solo album in 2001.

But he had also inherited some of the hard-living habits that plagued his father’s early career. Eddy Shaver overdosed on heroin on New Year’s Eve in 2000, and died at the age of 38.

Billy Joe Shaver has released some of his son’s work posthumously, and maintains an online tribute page to his son. The obvious tragedy is that Eddy Shaver didn’t make a bigger mark before his death.

The beauty of it is that you can still hear him play — and you should.

Jorge Fitz-Gibbon’s career as a journalist has spanned 23 years, including stints at The New York Daily News and The Journal News. He is the father of an 11-year-old boy, and has been a single dad for seven of those years, recently working on building a blended family. He blogs for LoHud.com on parenting and music, drawing on his passion for both. Both come together in his life as well: His son currently plays guitar and saxophone, while Jorge is a guitar player with Bud Metro and the Corrections, The Journal News’ on-again, off-again newsroom band. Not surprisingly, Jorge’s love for classic rock and metal has rubbed off on his son, whose debut performance at a school talent show was Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” Now they’re working on Led Zeppelin and keeping his grades up in school.

5 Comments

Ken

JF,
I have enjoyed reading your series, especially this profile of Eddy Shaver. My favorite Shaver cd is Live at Smyth’s Old Bar, and it stays on a regular rotation in my car. Too bad he didn’t live long enough to make a bigger mark, but like the song says, he will “Live Forever”.

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